Song of Solomon 2
1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Chapter two begins with direct narration by a mushroom, the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys. But this is not the Amanita muscaria this is another psychoactive mushroom, the Psilocybe cubensis. Psilocybe grows in cow dung in the Middle East and, according to the Oxford dictionary, Sharon is a form of Sharn, which means dung, but particularly, cow dung. Also, Sharon is an area of land that is flat. From the sea to the mountains the land of Sharon is flat valley land used for farming and raising cattle. So we have a new character entering the song and picture of our cast. The Psilocybe grows in the valleys and particularly where we find herds of cattle. Sharon is found in the Bible six times and every time it is associated with grazing animals, herds and flocks. The “rose” is a metaphor for the Amanita muscaria mushroom but now we find the rose as a generic mushroom metaphor connected to the dung-loving Psilocybe species and the valleys where they graze. Lilies are also known to be psychoactive and, along with their cousins the lotus ,can be found throughout eastern religious artworks. So we can properly read this line as “I am the mushroom of the dung.”
2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
Taking again the narrating position of the first person, the Psilocybe is compared to the Amanitas. Psilocybe mushrooms are smooth capped and compared to the faceted-bump covered Amanitas of the mountains they are as a lily among thorns. The Psilocybe is also described here as love and as such is compared to the Amanitas that are called once again the “daughters”.
3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
More comparison between species ensues now associating the mushrooms with apples (or apple trees) comparing them to all the other trees of the forest. Mushrooms are always associated with umbrellas, parasols and shade-trees partly because of the sensation that you get bigger and smaller as part of the experience. To “sit down in the shadow with great delight” is to take the mushrooms and experience the effects. This is done with great delight as the Psilocybe species tend to make a person laugh and experience great joy and delight. The Psilocybe is also a mushroom that can be eaten fresh (right out of the cow patty) and they taste very good… even sweet.
4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
The intoxication appears to be agreeing with the experiencer and as is typical with the Psilocybin compounds, there is still a separation between the experiencer and the mushroom. The tone of this dialogue is more single positioned now; it is not jumping back and forth as before.
5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
Psilocybe mushrooms are shaped in the primordium stage rather like a bowling pin. The “flagon” is a vessel to hold liquids (wine, strong drink, etc.) that is also shaped like a bowling pin, or, just like a Psilocybe cubensis when young. “Stay me with flagons” is reference to a choice made and a plea for coercion to stay in the company of the valley dwelling Psilocybe rather than going again the mountain realm of the Amanitas. Comfort me with apples is another statement to that effect and “I am sick of love” references the vomiting associated with both types of mushrooms but most likely in this case it is reference to the Amanitas.
6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
Oftentimes when one is in the throws of the mushroom experience vomiting occurs and sometimes you require assistance of a monitor or babysitter to help you through the dissociative stages when vomiting can be fatal if you are lying on your back. The way to help someone through this stage best is to hold the person with one arm embracing the person around the belly from beside and the other hand holding the head up so they don’t bang their head on the ground or go face first into the bucket. The previous verse references being “sick of love” and this verse describe the effects and events of being sick of the mushrooms.
7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
The daughters of Jerusalem are the Amanitas but in another sense they are those waiting for the Amanita season (after the winter when the snow in the mountains has receded). The roes and hinds are both mushrooms. According to the early 1900s Webster’s dictionary, the roe is a red to reddish brown deer and hind is a female red deer (of which the male is the “stag”). Also, there is reference to spots with the word ‘hind’ as it is also any of various groupers (a species of fish) with spots. Deer are associated with Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina and are known to eat them. The “roe” is a “red deer” with white spots and the “hind” is also a red deer with spots. “Stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please” is reference to going out to pick the mushrooms before the season is right. As we will see, the season is nearly upon our narrative and the valley dwelling mushrooms will soon be set aside for the Amanitas once again as the spring arrives.
8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
The voice of my beloved is the thunder (proclaiming the approach of the mushroom season after the rains). The word here for “voice” is the Hebrew “qowl” or “qol” and means a cracking, loud sound and specifically thunder. Thunder has been considered the voice of god in many religions, particularly the Abrahamic religions. There is a related sound that was also considered to be the voice of god and that is the rumble of a volcano. But here we see why the voice of the lord (the thunder claps) calls his followers to the mountains as his approach is near. He comes “leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills” the mushrooms as footsteps dot the landscape and the season is once again in full swing. The word translated here as “leaping” is the Hebrew “dalag’ which means “to spring”. To spring is another perfect description of a growing mushroom as it grows like a spring of living waters from the ground.
9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice.
We discussed the roe (red, spotted deer) earlier and the hind (female red, spotted deer) and now we are told the beloved is as a young hart. A “young hart” is the stag (male deer) and when young it is also red with white spots. “Behold he standeth behind our wall” explains that the mushrooms are found outside the house or the city walls but, even more interestingly, the mushroom stands without the mental boundaries (walls) of understanding to the general populace. “He looketh forth at the windows” implies that now that the season is in full swing and our narrator knows that the mushrooms are flushing, figuratively it is also looking for the hunters. Looking into the windows describes the mushrooms visible through the windows of the house, city or holes in the wall of dogma separating the people from the mushroom god. The mushrooms pushing up through the pine needles under the conifers spread them apart as the mushroom rises, this creates a lattice effect as the mushroom begins to peek out from its hiding place.
10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
The voice of the beloved is the thunder that says to rise up and come away to the mountains. The voice of the thunder indicates that the mushrooms are popping.
11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The winter has passed, the rain is over and gone (at least for the moment). It is springtime and with the rains of spring comes the first mountain mushroom season of the year. The winter is fine for mushrooms in the valleys because the elevation is too low to freeze out the mushroom fruiting.
12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The turtle is a turtledove (”Columba palumbus”) and it can be white with red eyes. Also the turtledove can be blue with purple-brown belly feathers resembling the Psilocybe colors. The Hebrew for turtle used here is “towr” or “tor” a ringdove or turtledove. Of particular note here are the varieties of colors of turtledoves. They can vary from pure white to blue and purple and even bright golden in parts. These are all colors of the mushrooms so, as with apples, roses and lilies, they may be used to represent Amanita muscaria, Amanita pantherina or Psilocybe species. The voice of the turtle is a metaphor for the voices of the gods, the mushrooms, the thunder of the storms that indicate rain and mushroom hunting season.
13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Tender grapes are white, nearly translucent, like the gills of a mushroom before they begin to ripen through the summer. These are further indications to look for when watching for the mushroom season to come into full swing. Once the signs are all right it is time to “come away” to the mountains to seek the mushroom god in its native habitat.
14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
If you really get into the finer points of hunting amanitas in the field, you will find that they love rocky terrain. In the geological evolution of the planet, first there is the lava, and then plants begin to break down the lava by shooting rootlets into the rocks and cracks of rocks. One of the first trees to break down rock is the pine tree (host for Amanitas). Mushrooms are also quite powerful organisms and can even crack fairly large sized rocks right in half. Since the pine tree has hundreds of mychorhizzal symbionts associated with it, it is perfect for breaking down rocks into soil. But the mushrooms are often found in the clefts of the rocks. Another mushroom associated with the pine is the Boletus edulis (King Bolete) and these giant mushrooms also do a great job of breaking apart rocks. The Boletes are also a great indicator species for finding the Amanitas because if the Boletes are fruiting, the Amanitas are not far away, unless the deer have found them first (another reason to “get the up to the mountains” quickly when the time is right, after a storm. This is because the competition for the mushroom gods is stiff in the great outdoors. The “secret places of the stairs” is another way to describe the rocky habitat that is preferred by the Amanitas. Natural terrain resembling stairs is common in rocky areas and this is prime hunting ground for the mushrooms.
15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Foxes, again, are red and white (actually red with white spots) in color, particularly the little foxes. One must take the little foxes because when the mushrooms are ripe they need to be picked. Otherwise the mushrooms beyond their prime begin to disintegrate, turn black and rot (as previously discussed), then the rot can spread to the good mushrooms close by, eventually ruining the whole patch. Then you must wait for another fruiting. But if you remove the mushrooms as they are ready, the new ones will keep coming up and this is ‘Keeping the vineyards” or “tending the flock” properly. You wouldn’t want to ruin the tender grapes (tiny fruiting bodies) by letting the mushrooms beyond their prime infect the newbies.
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
It seems quite clear that to feedeth among the lilies is to eat the mushrooms among the mushrooms but further investigation reveals that the Hebrew word for feedeth is “raah” which means not only to eat but to tend the flock or tend the mushroom patch to its full yielding potential (as mentioned above).
17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
We have already clarified the roe and the hart (stag) both as red spotted deer. The deer are associated with the Amanitas around the world; particularly there is a large body of information from Wasson regarding the Siberian Reindeer. The deer resemble the mushrooms in color and appearance, so to be as a deer upon the mountains of Bether. Bether is a place in Palestine but the Hebrew “Bether” also means a “craggy place.” This indicates a mountainous, rocky area and, as we discussed previously, a “rocky” place is what the mushrooms prefer. The first words “until the day break” indicate that this is a reference to something happening during the night. The narrator asks his beloved to, during the night, “turn” which is the Hebrew word “cabab” which among its definitions are to change, stand and cause to come about. All these are prompting the mushrooms to mature overnight so when the day comes again they will be as the roe and hart, fully matured, ready for harvesting.